


Blooming

by NeonCandies



Series: Overwatch Hanahaki Disease [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hanahaki Disease, Implied Soldier76/Reaper, Implied Unrequited Love, Light Angst, M/M, One Shot, Temporarily Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 05:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11730870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonCandies/pseuds/NeonCandies
Summary: The flowers that sprouted were a symbol. A symbol that represented his love for Genji. They grew with his love until they were beautiful blossoms that covered his body in its entirety. Such a beautiful thing, if only they were easier to hide.





	Blooming

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Ayyyyyyyyy here's a oneshot. I really wanted to try doing something with the Hanahaki disease. What better challenge than to write an Omnic with a disease? I took some liberties with it and also made some stuff up since there wasn't much already on the Hanahaki Disease :u I'd like to explore this once again sometime in the future, mainly between Jack and Gabriel~ And who knows! Maybe I'll write about Genji getting the disease or a human Zen getting it!! Thoughts for the future uwu Anyways thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! Comments are appreciated, but not required!

Omnics could not get sick, this was a known fact. Sure, they could get a virus in their system which might mimic the concept of being “sick”, but an Omnic was never truly “sick”. So the idea of an Omnic getting a disease was just as ludicrous. They weren’t human, they had no blood or organs to infect. They were free from such pains.

And, for the longest time, Tekhartha Zenyatta thought this to be true. He understood that he was an Omnic and was not human, that he could not get sick. But that was ok, he understood that despite both having souls, humans and Omnics were still different from each other. Yet it seems like the world intended to prove to the monk that anything was possible, even an Omnic getting sick.

The first sign of his ailment appeared exactly three months after he had first met Genji Shimada. The man full of anger and pain had slowly started to let go of such darkness. Though he still had his moments, that didn’t mean Genji wasn’t trying. He was happier than before, more willing to learn and let others into his heart.

At first, Zenyatta had thought nothing was wrong. He carried on his day like any other, meditating with Genji and then taking care of his chores for the day. It wasn’t till he was sweeping one of the inner rooms of the temple that one of the other monks pointed something out.

“Brother Zenyatta?”

Pausing, the Omnic glanced up at the call of his name. “Yes? What is it?”

The bulky robot dressed in navy robes pointed at something on Zenyatta’s shoulder. His voice was laced with confusion as he asked, “Why do you have a flower on you? It isn’t cherry blossom season yet, is it?”

Zenyatta looked down at his exposed shoulder and was shocked to see that there was a cherry blossom resting there. However what Zenyatta found odd was the fact that it looked to be growing _from_ him. He reached a hand up, plucking the flower from his body. He was quite surprised when his sensors gave him a brief flash of pain, telling him that the simple action had hurt.

“Oh, I did not even notice it! How strange.” Zenyatta hummed, deciding to file this information away to examine it later. He held the pitiful bud, twisting it this way and that.

Zenyatta and the other monk had been confused at its appearance, but it quickly fell from their minds. The next appearance of a bud didn’t come till two months later. This time it was Genji who pointed it out, he too curious at its appearance.

“Master, hold on.” With careful movements, Genji pulled the bud from the base of Zenyatta’s neck, missing the way the lights on his forehead flickered for the briefest of moments.

The cyborg grinned, holding it out for Zenyatta to see. “Did you fall asleep under the sakura tree again? I’m surprised there isn’t more on you!”

Zenyatta chuckled, taking the bud. “I do not sleep when I am there, Genji. I meditate.”

Completely unconvinced, Genji rolled his eyes and snorted. “Sure. We’ll call it that.”

Shaking his head fondly, Zenyatta held the growing bud in his hands, staring at it on occasion. That night when he returned to his room, he opened up one of his many books. The page he opened up to held the first flower, the bud now flat thanks to the pressure of the book. Zenyatta placed the second flower next to it, realizing that the second flower looked to be more grown than the first. Why were these blossoms sprouting from his frame like this?

The next time buds started sprouting, Zenyatta was the first to find them. Nearly a week had passed before more had grown and Zenyatta was thoroughly confused. He had run diagnostic checks on all of his systems, but they always came up in perfect condition. Yet it made no sense. If he wasn’t at all malfunctioning, than why were cherry blossoms sprouting from his frame?

This time there were three buds, each slightly closer to being in full bloom than the last. Zenyatta plucked them out one by one, his body twitching every time a hot flash of pain ran over his sensors. A small, artificial sigh left him once the last blossoms were plucked. Each were placed into Zenyatta’s book and left forgotten on a shelf. He tried to meditate on the matter, even researched what this could possibly be. The only things that came up where machines being overgrown. But that was preposterous, only machines that remained stationary for a long period of time became overgrown.

Despite his rising concerns, Zenyatta kept this information to himself. Each morning he would wake up and pluck out any new buds, putting them in the book and leaving them to be ignored. He knew it was a bad idea to leave such a thing unaddressed for so long, but Zenyatta had other things that required his utmost attention. Particularly the healing and supporting of Genji. Zenyatta’s top priority was to make sure that Genji’s soul was healed, his plant problem could wait.

It wasn’t until the Overwatch recall that Zenyatta made a connection. Not only that, but it was thanks to the recall that Zenyatta finally had a name for the feeling that made his core heat up and his sensors go haywire.

“I… I have to go.” Genji said.

He had pulled Zenyatta into his room and sat the Omnic down, feeling the need to get this off his chest.

“Overwatch needs help, help that I can offer. I’m a changed man now, I want to make up for my mistakes of the past. I want to help make a better future.” He looked up at Zenyatta, eyes impossibly wide and showing the vulnerability he let himself have after so many years. “I-I know it’s selfish of me to ask, but master Zenyatta, would you like to join me? Overwatch could truly use your help! A-and you said you wished you had the chance to help others on a more personal level rather than give speeches your whole life.”

As Genji rambled on about the benefits of joining him on his journey to Gibraltar, Zenyatta merely stared on. He held back his laugh, letting Genji get out everything he had to say. Even without thinking about it, Zenyatta already knew his answer.

“Genji, I have every intention of following you to Gibraltar. You do not need to play it up like a sales representative.”

Blushing furiously, Genji forced out an embarrassed chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. “Right! Um, yeah. Sorry! But you won’t regret it! I don’t know who else is answering the recall, but I do know Winston will be there. You’ll like him! He’s a pretty nice guy- er… Gorilla.”

Zenyatta didn’t hold back his chuckles this time, his core heating up as Genji joined his mirth. It was then that Zenyatta was suddenly struck with a thought.

‘ _I truly love this man._ ’

That seemed to be the key his body was waiting for. Over the next few days of travelling, Zenyatta began to find fully blossomed flowers sprouting all over his body. They only appeared in small amounts, but yanking these ones out hurt more than the buds had. Zenyatta had managed to hide the cherry blossoms from Genji, going so far as to wear long-sleeved shirts to keep them hidden. Genji had thought nothing of it, not one to judge how his master dressed.

When they reached Gibraltar, they were greeted by a very interesting slew of people. There was a man by the name of Jesse McCree, apparently he and Genji went way back. He had been quite surprised to see how much Genji had changed, but that didn’t stop him from giving the cyborg a large hug in greeting.

Next came Lena Oxton, a very peppy girl that was excited to meet Zenyatta. The two of them had become fast friends and she was more than willing to introduce Zenyatta to Winston. They also got along rather well, Winston pleased at the fact that they had another healer on the team.

The remaining three people were Ana Amari, Hana Song, and a gruff looking man who went by the name “76”. Though later on Genji would whisper that it was Jack Morrison and that he wasn’t fooling anyone with the rugged outsider shtick.

Zenyatta had been very pleased to meet everyone. Though Genji might have played up his skill on being a “good listener” and how simply talking to Zenyatta was “very therapeutic”. Apparently everyone thought Genji must’ve been preaching the truth, seeing as how Zenyatta was able to turn a violent and broken man into the teasing and cheerful man who tried to pour a cup of gravy into Jesse’s hair one time at dinner.

Ever since then, many members of their little team would come to talk to Zenyatta. It was either that or they would simply sit in his presence and listen to his mala chime while he meditated. Zenyatta never pushed them to speak and he didn’t expect them to. If they wanted to talk, they would. And if they did speak, he never requested that it be about their problems. It took weeks before Jesse talked about what was bothering him instead of talking about mundane topics and random facts.

However, the entire time that Zenyatta was there, Jack Morrison did not seek him out. Not unless it was for something Overwatch related, anyways. Zenyatta was used to such a thing, Genji had been the same way. Weary and defensive at anything that might help, only allowing others close enough to not be perceived as a recluse. Eventually his kindness and words managed to get through to Genji. So he wasn’t really bothered by the fact Morrison had not sought him out.

Zenyatta knew that if Morrison wanted to talk, he would do it when he was comfortable enough. So Zenyatta focused his time on removing the flowers from his body and hiding the evidence from Genji. Every morning before he left his room, he would yank out the blossoms and hide them until he had free time. Then he would toss the flowers off the edge of the base and into the sea so they could be swallowed up by the waves. Because of his morning plucking, Zenyatta could freely go back to wearing just pants. It had been a little stifling to wear sweaters just to keep the flowers hidden.

Zenyatta knew this was becoming an issue, day by day the amount of blossoms would grow. But he still refused to address it, still refused to acknowledge that his feelings were somehow tied to this. He continued to push his own problems away, letting them build and build. It wasn’t till Genji went on a stealth mission with Ana and Tracer that his problem reared its ugly head, this time with teeth and claws.

Zenyatta had been in the kitchen, making a pot of coffee for the early risers on base. He had just finished plunking the flowers that morning, they were waiting in his room to be tossed away. So when he saw the ring of petals around his wrist, Zenyatta had almost dropped the glass pitcher. He set it down rather loudly and wasted no time in yanking out the flowers.

Arching slightly, Zenyatta felt pain slice through his nerves. He gripped the counter and quickly began turning off the alarms blaring throughout his systems telling him that there was something wrong. He knew there was something wrong, but his diagnostic checks always came up clean.

The sound of someone entering the kitchen had the monk tensing, the flowers in his hand crushed by his grip. Zenyatta glanced up, coming face-to-face with Jack. He had his visor off, no longer wearing it 24/7 like he had the first few weeks. One scarred brow was raised in question, his mouth twisted into a permanent frown.

“Are you… Alright?” He sounded awkward, almost like he had no clue how to talk to Zenyatta. Though that was to be expected since they rarely conversed at all.

Zenyatta hesitated, hiding his hand behind his back. “Yes, I’m fine. I just accidentally spilled coffee on myself. My sensors are overreacting, but it’s nothing to concern yourself about.”

Morrison looked unconvinced, his arms crossing over his chest. He sighed, “There’s no point in beating around the bush.” Levelling Zenyatta a pointed look, he flicked his head in the general direction of the ocean. “I’ve seen you tossing flowers when no one’s around.”

The change in Zenyatta was obvious. His body tensed and the lights on his forehead blinked rapidly. He quickly looked away, slightly ashamed at being caught. Slowly, Zenyatta took deep, unneeded breaths. He let out his own sigh, finally releasing the tension in his body. He had been caught, just as he knew he eventually would. There was no point in pretending any longer.

He set the crushed blossoms on the counter, making a point not to look at them. “I… I do not know what this is. When they first started growing, they were buds. And only a few at a time would appear. Now they are full blossoms and they grow in clusters.”

“It’s called the Hanahaki disease.” Jack explained, an undercurrent of pain in his tone. “Usually the person who has it coughs up blood and flowers.”

Zenyatta’s head snapped to Jack, regarding him in confusion. “Agent Morrison, I do believe you’re confused. Omnics cannot contract diseases. And… I have never head of this ‘Hanahaki’ disease.”

Jack sighed and flexed his fingers in a nervous gesture. “I thought so too. But it makes sense. They’d have to have some way to appear since you can’t cough them out. So long as you feel the way you do, they’ll be there.”

“I’m afraid I do not follow…”

Rubbing at his face in exasperation, Jack muttered something about being too old for this. “The flowers are a sign of unrequited love. It starts off as buds or petals, then once you realize your love for the person, they turn into full blossoms. The specific flower that shows up is a representation of the person the love is for.” Here he paused, his eyes narrowing in a calculating way. “It’s Genji, isn’t it?”

Without hesitation he answered, “It is.”

Zenyatta found no reason to deny his feelings, not when it was clear Jack knew. But that’s what confused Zenyatta a bit. Why was Jack talking about such a thing? Why would he even know about it?

“If you don’t mind me asking… How do you know about such a disease? You speak as if from personal experience.”

The grim look on Jack’s face turned darker as emotions flashed through his eyes. Flickering from pain, regret, to sadness. As he spoke, Zenyatta instantly understood what those emotions meant.

“I… Knew someone. He also was suffering from it, hid it like you are. I never noticed, even when it got so obvious something was wrong. Even when everything was going to shit, he was still coughing up those damn bluebells. You’d think I would’ve noticed, but I didn’t. Not until that final day where he coughed them up in front of me.” Here he closed his eyes, brows creasing. “And then I lost him… Afterwards, when I got the chance, I looked up his disease. Found out about the Hanahaki.”

He took a deep breath, opening his eyes and pointing a finger at Zenyatta. “My point is, do something about it. This thing kills people. Maybe not the same way for you as it does humans, but it will start to affect your body. If you don’t plan on confessing, have the roots removed.”

Zenyatta was quiet, silently processing Jack’s advice. After a while he asked, “What happens when I remove the roots?”

“Your feelings get removed with it.”

The answer was blunt, as Zenyatta expected he would get. Jack had no reason to sugar-coat anything. This was an apparently serious matter, after all. Jack probably expected Zenyatta to treat it as such.

He nodded his head, “I see… Well, thank you, Morrison. I hope you keep this just between you and I till a decision has been made.”

“Of course,” Jack grunted, walking past Zenyatta for the coffee. “It isn’t any of my business if you confess or not. If it ends up becoming a problem, _then_ it’s my business. We can’t have one of our only healers incapacitated because they have flowers growing from their body and restricting their movement.”

Zenyatta hummed his agreement, lingering in the kitchen for a while longer. When it seemed that Jack had nothing more to say, Zenyatta bid him goodbye and returned to his room. There he conducted research on this disease, reading everything he could about it.

 After that little event, it seemed to create a friendship of sorts between Zenyatta and Jack. While he disapproved of Zenyatta’s need to hide the flowers, he didn’t go against his wishes and did indeed keep quiet about it. He would give Zenyatta a pointed look whenever he was with Genji, but did little more than that. It was clear Jack was worried about him, but he wasn’t the only one Jack was worried about. It seemed like everyone on the team had earned the gruff care from Jack, even if he was reluctant to admit it.

As the days wore on and Zenyatta still refused to do anything about his flowers, he eventually came to see what Morrison had meant about it being dangerous. For humans, the flowers would sprout in the lungs and continue growing until they blocked off the airways and left the host dead from suffocation. Since Zenyatta didn’t have lungs, he was safe from perishing that way. However it seemed the flowers wanted to prove him wrong.

The blossoms had started to grow vines along Zenyatta’s body, winding over his limbs and into his wiring. More blossoms sprouted from their green paths in bushels. There were too many for Zenyatta to pick in the mornings and it was even more difficult since they would now sprout at any time. Zenyatta was back to wearing long sleeved shirts and renewing his efforts to hide the blossoms from his student.

“Master, are you alright?” Genji asked one day, watching Zenyatta play with the sleeves of his turtleneck.

Zenyatta looked up, placing his hands in his lap in an attempt to hide them. “Oh? Perfectly fine. Sorry, I hope I didn’t cause you any concern.”

“I’m always going to worry for you, master.”

At that Zenyatta laughed lightly, “Is that so?”

Genji grinned wryly, “Well someone has to. You don’t worry enough about yourself!”

Zenyatta hummed as he tilted his head from side to side, contemplating Genji’s words. “I wouldn’t say I neglect myself…”

“Uh, it’s exactly that.” Genji snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Zenyatta a pointed look. “You put everyone else before your own needs. Even to the point of neglecting yourself! Remember at the beginning of my stay in the monastery? You completely ignored your scheduled maintenance just to make sure I was comfortable. It was bad, master.”

“Not that bad.”

“You collapsed because one of your legs locked up from a faulty nerve wire. It caused an electrical surge that shorted out the function of your entire right leg.” Genji deadpanned.

Zenyatta huffed in a mixture of amusement and shame, he was right. At the time Zenyatta didn’t think it mattered, his entire focus had been on giving Genji his own space and a reason to stay and heal. Even at the cost of his own body’s functions, Zenyatta had put everything into working with Genji. Yet in the end he had to undergo a four hour maintenance in order to repair his systems. If he had just gone before he collapsed, it would’ve only been an hour.

Sighing, the monk nodded his head slowly. “Yes, it seems you’re correct in your observation.”

Genji placed a hand to Zenyatta’s knee and smiled reassuringly. “It isn’t a bad thing, though. You help a lot of people, you just… End up hurting yourself to do that. But keeping your problems pent up doesn’t do anyone good, master. Trust me, it’s better to talk to someone if you’re not feeling good.”

Zenyatta couldn’t help but smile at Genji, his core heating up from the simple contact on his knee. “Yes, you’re right. Thank you, Genji.” He hesitated a moment before chuckling softly. “It seems even the master can learn from the student, hm?”

Grinning, Genji retracted his hand and already Zenyatta was missing the contact. “Well I did learn from the best.” The ninja hummed, settling back into his meditative pose.

The advice Genji gave him couldn’t be ignored, even if Zenyatta wanted to avoid talking about his condition. However it wasn’t like he could just bring it up to anyone. If he was going to talk about it, it would have to be to someone who was already aware of it. Which meant talking to Jack Morrison. It was a little awkward at first, but eventually they managed to start talking directly about the issue instead of dancing around it.

Jack was still suggesting that Zenyatta get the root removed and he gave good reasons as to why the Omnic should. But Zenyatta’s reasoning for keeping the root was always the same. He loved Genji too much and he didn’t want to ever forget that. Even if these feelings hurt him in the end, he didn’t want to let them go.

Yet for some reason, the more time Zenyatta spent talking to Jack, the less time he seemed to spend with Genji. And it wasn’t because Zenyatta spent most of his time with Jack. On the contrary, he only spent an hour at most with the man a few times a week. But any time he tried to find Genji and sit with him, the cyborg always pulled an excuse and fled. Zenyatta knew when he was being avoided and Genji wasn’t exactly being subtle about it.

Zenyatta was at a loss for what to do. He had no clue why Genji was avoiding him. Was it something he said? Something he had done? Genji would have told him if something was bothering him, he always had. The worry and anxiety was eating Zenyatta up, even when he left on a mission. They were going on an item retrieval mission in order to get more supplies. Lena was flying in new recruits, some that had been a part of the old Overwatch, so they needed more supplies in order to accommodate them.

Genji, Jesse, Winston, and Ana had been left behind for the mission, as they needed as few people as possible to get in and out quick. Jesse had been looking for a place to smoke when he stumbled upon a brooding Genji. For a moment he had been sucked back into the old days of Blackwatch where Genji looked as if he would kill everyone in a fifty-mile radius just to bathe in their blood. The furrowed brow and the dark vibe radiating from the cyborg didn’t exactly help the matter either.

“Howdy,” Jesse drawled, startling Genji from his brooding.

“Jesse, I did not hear you approach.”

Sitting down next to his old friend, Jesse chuckled as he lit the cigarillo. “Nah, I reckon ya didn’t. Hard to hear a man approach when ya got your head up in the clouds.”

Genji frowned, “I was not daydreaming, if that was what you were implying. I was merely thinking.”

“Broodin’, more like. Ya looked like something crawled up and pissed in your coffee.” Snorting, Jesse leaned back on one hand. “So spill, what’s eatin’ you up?”

At first it looked like Genji was going to be stubborn and not say anything, but then his shoulders slumped and he sighed. “It’s Zenyatta… He’s hiding something from me.”

Jesse raised a brow, “Well everyone’s got secrets.”

“But he tells me everything! Especially when something is bothering him! The other day I asked him if he was troubled by something and it seemed I was right! So I told him he should talk to someone about it!” Genji raised a hand to yank at his hair.

“And?”

“He went to Morrison!” Genji was now visibly fuming, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl tugging at his face. “Since when have they gotten all buddy-buddy enough for Zenyatta, someone _I’ve_ known longer, to go to him with his problems?!”

With the way Genji was acting, you’d think he was jealous. Which, the more Jesse thought about it, the more apparent it became. Still, he had to test this theory before jumping to conclusions. “And… Is that a bad thing? I thought ya’d be happy he was goin’ to someone.”

“But I suggested it so he’d come to me!” Genji snapped, the edge of a growl in his voice. “I mean, I’m glad he’s being accepted, that he’s making friends and whatnot. But I just… I thought he’d want to talk to me about what’s bothering him. I was there whenever he went through hard times. When he left the monastery, when Mondatta died…”

Jesse watched Genji deflate, his anger giving way to sadness. “I just… I thought I was important enough for him to talk to, you know? Zen, he’s never hidden anything from me.”

Rubbing his chin in thought, Jesse took a drag of his cigarillo. He blew out the smoke slowly, humming. “Well maybe he ain’t talkin’ to ya about what’s buggin’ him because it involves **you** personally. I mean, I don’t think Zenyatta would leave ya outa the loop like that without a reason.”

“I guess…” Genji mumbled.

Chuckling, Jesse nudged his friend with his foot. “Look, why don’t ya ask him about it when he gets back? I’m sure he’ll tell ya if you just ask.”

Genji mulled this over for a moment before sighing, “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Jesse.” He watched his friend smoke for a while longer before he felt the need to point out, “You know that Angela is a part of the returning members, right? She’ll kill you if she finds out you’ve been smoking. And the smell does tend to stick.”

The ninja broke down laughing when Jesse almost inhaled his cigarillo. He fell into a coughing fit, hitting at his chest while cursing Genji. Feeling lighter than he had in hours, Genji merely grinned and let himself soak up McCree’s company. He’d talk to Zenyatta when he got back. Then everything would be fine and he wouldn’t have to stay feeling so uneasy.

Yet when Zenyatta got back, it was, to put it bluntly, stressful. They had been attacked when loading up the cargo. Hana had been hit pretty badly, from what he heard. Her mech had been damaged by a powerful blast and something in the wiring had ruptured. She had gotten stabbed with glass and some shrapnel, but had apparently kept fighting and blocking the gunfire till everyone could make it safely aboard the ship. Everyone had walked away from the battle with some damage, so Zenyatta had spent the entire flight healing as much as he could.

The moment they landed, Hana was wheeled to Angela’s refurbished medical wing to see if she’d require any surgery. Genji had taken instantly gone to Zenyatta in order to check him over for injuries. Zenyatta reassured him he was fine, clearly trying to avoid Genji’s prodding. His baggy sweater had some bullet holes, but there were no oil leaks to indicate Zenyatta was injured. He looked as fine as he said, but that didn’t explain why his movements were so stilted.

“Master, are you sure you’re ok?” Genji asked once again, making a move to grab Zenyatta’s hand.

The monk skilfully dodged, taking a step back from Genji. They stared at each other, Genji shocked because his touch had been so blatantly rejected while Zenyatta was panicking at his obvious avoidance.

“I-I’m fine, Genji.”

With his visor on it was hard for Zenyatta to tell what Genji’s expression was. But he could read the cyborg’s body language as clearly as any book. Genji’s body tensed as if readying to pounce. Without another word, he lunged for Zenyatta’s hand. Once again Zenyatta dodged and kept himself out of Genji’s reach. The two of them continued this game of chase, Zenyatta barely twisting out of the way from Genji’s grip.

The vines and flowers were finally slowing Zenyatta’s movement. It was how he had accidentally gotten shot earlier. He’d been too slow to throw an orb and incapacitate his attacker. Now it was apparent that they were slowing him down once again. With a gasp he twisted, trying to avoid another of Genji’s grabs only to be tackled by the ninja. They fell to the ground, Genji holding a scrambling Zenyatta.

“Wait, Genji!”

But it was too late. Genji had yanked up Zenyatta’s shirt to check him for injuries, but he couldn’t see any wound on Zenyatta’s back. All he could see was the woven vines crisscrossing over his frame and into his wiring, the beautiful pink blossoms sprouting from the green trails blocking out more of Zenyatta’s metal body. He stared in awe and confusion, a hand raising to trace over one of the blossoms.

“What…?” He breathed, utterly confused. “Is this what’s been bothering you?”

Zenyatta stiffened, his hands clenched into fists. “Genji, please let me go.”

Behind his visor, Genji frowned. “Will you tell me about the flowers then?”

There was no use hiding it anymore. Genji had seen the flowers and, even if he didn’t know what they meant, that wouldn’t stop him from looking up possible ailments. There was no reason for Zenyatta to keep this hidden now that it was out in the open. And one thing he promised himself was that he would not deny his feelings for Genji. He was already hiding them, denying them was just something he couldn’t bring himself to do.

“I will, but not here.” Zenyatta whispered.

Genji relented after that, helping Zenyatta stand and following the monk towards his room. Once safely behind the door, Zenyatta took a seat on the cot with Genji sitting next to him. The two were quiet, Genji waiting for Zenyatta to be the one to speak. After what seemed like ages, the monk sighed and looked down at his hands. He only hesitated a moment before he pulled his shirt over his head and exposed the many flowers blooming along his body.

“These are… Specific flowers. They are, from my understanding, the Omnic’s version of the Hanahaki disease.” Zenyatta mumbled, wringing the shirt between his hands.

Genji frowned and shook his head in confusion. The name rang a bell, it brought up memories of books in the Shimada library. Specifically the romance novels his mother had hoarded like an addict. “Wait, you mean Hanahaki as in the “ _cough-up-flowers-from unrequited-love_ ” Hanahaki?”

At Zenyatta’s nod, Genji felt himself floundering even more. That meant Zenyatta had someone he was in love with. Genji thought back to all he remembered about this stupid flower disease. He could only remember the basics. Things like how it was tied to unrequited love and how it could eventually kill the patient.

“H-how long has this been going on?!” How had Genji not noticed anything?! The flowers blooming or the vines growing? Why hadn’t Genji questioned Zenyatta’s wellbeing before any of this?! Sure Zenyatta wouldn’t die from lack of oxygen, but then again anything was possible! After all, Omnics couldn’t get diseases, but here they were.

Zenyatta sighed artificially, “A few months after your arrival in Nepal.”

It was like a slap to the face or being doused with cold water. Zenyatta had worded that in the most obvious of ways. He had been feeling unrequited feelings for _Genji_. He almost forgot to breathe thanks to this information. The blindingly warm feeling blossoming in his chest and squeezing his heart gave little room for him to breath.

But Zenyatta must’ve taken his silence for rejection. The monk bowed his head, his body hunching in on itself. “I understand if this causes you to feel disgusted or upset. I had no intention of ever letting you know, for I was simply satisfied with just being beside you. But I understand if you don’t want me to-“

“What?” Genji whispered, voice laced with pain. “You weren’t going to tell me?”

He quickly unhooked the clasps on his face, dislodging his mask and setting it to the side so Zenyatta could look into his eyes. He hoped they conveyed his hurt, but he also hoped they showed his love. Genji reached out for Zenyatta, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Why would you keep this from me? Of course I’d want to know! These flowers have been growing all over your body for months now! And I didn’t even notice! I spent so much time with you, how could I not notice that you were growing flowers?”

Zenyatta relaxed into Genji’s hold, a hand coming up to rub along his back. “It isn’t your fault, Genji. Do not beat yourself up for not knowing. I tried everything to keep it from you.”

Huffing, Genji pouted against Zenyatta’s shoulder. “But why? You love me, right? Then I have every right to know! I mean, it would’ve saved us so much time if you’d told me months ago!”

Leaning back, Zenyatta tilted his head in confusion. “I’m afraid I do not follow. What do you mean about it saving us time?”

A brilliant grin blossomed on Genji’s scarred lips. He snorted, cupping Zenyatta’s face between his hands. “Come on master, you’re supposed to be wise and all knowing. Can’t you predict what I’m going to say?”

Zenyatta didn’t want to assume. He didn’t want his hopes to raise only for them to be crushed. But his mind was not listening, nor was his body. His processers were overworking themselves and his fans were picking up speed. He didn’t dare move, not when Genji was beginning to lean in close to him.

A soft kiss was placed along his mouth-seam, so fleeting his sensors almost hadn’t picked it up. Then Genji was pulling back and smiling from ear to ear, his cheeks flushed.

“Zenyatta, I love you.”

The lights on his forehead blinked and he felt something inside of him unravelling. A pain in his core disappearing almost as if it had never existed in the first place. He gasped softly, letting go of his shirt in order to hold Genji’s hands. He squeezed those hands and Genji grinned, taking that as a good sign. He leaned in again and kissed Zenyatta, this one firmer and with all of his feelings.

Zenyatta pressed into the kiss, shaking slightly from all the emotions overloading his systems. When Genji pulled back, Zenyatta found himself following. The ninja chuckled, kissing Zenyatta’s forehead before he pulled back enough to look at Zenyatta’s face.

“And your answer?”

Zenyatta laughed, his hands wrapping around Genji’s neck and pulling him close. He rested their foreheads together as the indescribable happy feeling washed over him. “Me too. I love you, Genji.”

After that day, the flowers stopped growing. They began to fall off in their own time, leaving a scattering of petals wherever Zenyatta went. He would apologize profusely to anyone who had to clean up his trail and would then insist on being the one to clean it up. But he was happy, especially when the vines started retreating and were soon gone. In the end his body looked just as it did before Genji’s arrival into his life. There was no evidence of the flowers ever existing. The only thing reinforcing the fact that it had been real were the blossoms he had pressed in one of his books and the fact that Genji was now his lover. Zenyatta hadn’t expected it to turn out like this, but he was quite glad it did. He could say with all the confidence in the world that he was completely and truly happy.

**The End**


End file.
